Easily Connect Bluetooth Headphones To Mac

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From the dawn of time to just about a few years ago, all of us sported a pair of wired headphones and were convinced that this is simply how it will be done forever. After all, they are the easiest technology around: just plug them in, put them on, and go. But with proliferation of Bluetooth headphone options and disappearance of headphone jacks from nearly all the latest smartphones, wired headphones seem to progress on the path of disappearance more and more each day.

Thankfully, Bluetooth headphones are great. They are lightweight. They are versatile. They can be easily connected to your iPhone, your Mac, or your car. Charge them overnight just the same way as your phone and they last all day too.

Sadly, without proper configuration, connecting Bluetooth headphones to Mac might get a bit tricky, with frequent disconnections and music interruptions. Here, we’ll help you find out how to pair AirPods and other wireless headphones with Mac properly and control them masterfully at the same time..

Why Bluetooth Headphones Won't Connect To Mac

There are a few common problems we need to explore:

Bluetooth headphones won't connect to Mac right out of the box — some configuring is needed

Pairing Bluetooth headphones with Mac is different from pairing them with iPhone or your car’s audio system

Special settings that answer questions like how to connect two bluetooth headphones to one Mac and how to use multiple audio outputs

Throughout the article AirPods would be used as an example, but any other model of Bluetooth headphones can be connected in the similar fashion.

How to pair wireless headphones to Mac

Connecting Bluetooth headphones to Mac for the first time is done by following a few easy steps:

On your Mac, click on the Apple menu and launch System Preferences

Navigate to the Bluetooth menu and Turn Bluetooth On. You should now see all available Bluetooth devices around you.

Make sure your Bluetooth headphones are charged and currently in discoverable mode. Click Connect to establish a new connection

Your Bluetooth headphones should now appear in the list. Click Connect to establish a new connection.

If you’re trying to reconnect your existing device, right-click on it and choose Connect

After you’ve managed to successfully connect Bluetooth headphones to Mac for the first time, they should stay connected or reconnect automatically when you leave the Bluetooth range (around 33 feet or 10 meters) and come back.

You can also calibrate Bluetooth headphones to your liking through the Sound menu in System Preferences. For example, in the Output tab you can choose to “Show volume in menu bar” and set a stereo balance between right and left.

Described above is the ideal scenario for connecting Bluetooth headphones to Mac. But oftentimes things don’t go as planned, so let’s work through some widespread issues regarding Bluetooth headphones as well.

How to connect AirPods to Mac

There’s good news for those interested specifically in how to pair AirPods with MacBook. It’s really handy to set up connections if you use multiple Apple devices with your AirPods. Plus, you can get third-party software to automate the flow.

Here’s how you connect new AirPods to Mac:

Open System Preferences on your Mac and select Bluetooth.

Ensure Bluetooth is turned on.

On AirPods, press and hold the round button (it’s at the bottom center of the case) until the white light starts blinking.

Your Bluetooth headphones should now appear in the list.

In case you’ve already paired AirPods with your iPhone that’s tied to the same iCloud account and Apple ID, your earbuds will be automatically recognized by Mac.

To simplify it even more, install ToothFairy, an app that pairs Bluetooth headphones with Mac in one click. It works particularly well with connecting AirPods to Mac – instead of taking AirPods out of their case and putting them back in, you click on one single icon in ToothFairy. You can read more about how to use the app below.

We’ve described the ideal scenario for connecting Bluetooth headphones – AirPods in particular – to Mac. But oftentimes things don’t go as planned, so let’s work through some widespread issues regarding Bluetooth headphones such as AirPods not connecting to Mac.

How to fix Bluetooth headphone issues

Sometimes going through the setup steps doesn’t result in your headphones connecting successfully, or connecting and then abruptly disconnecting. This is profoundly annoying but can be solved by either resetting the headphones or purging preference settings on your Mac.

Restart your Bluetooth headphones

In case you can’t connect your Bluetooth headphones not only to your Mac but also any other device you own (iPhone or car audio), it might be a glitch in its settings, so a simple reset should remedy the situation.

Press and hold the setup button until the light switches from amber to white (around 10 seconds)

Now all settings on your earphones should be reset and you should be able to connect them again using the standard workflow above. If the problem persists, it could be something to do with the preferences on your Mac.

Reset sounds preferences on Mac

First, make sure that your Mac is running macOS Sierra or newer (macOS High Sierra or Mojave). If not, upgrade to the latest version by going to System Preferences > Software Update or using the App Store if you’re upgrading from a few versions back.

Next, if nothing was of any benefit so far, try resetting your Mac’s sound preferences. To do that:

From the menu bar select Go > Go to Folder… and type ~/Library/Preferences

In the long list of preference files, find and delete the following: com.apple.preferences.plist and com.apple.soundpref.plist

Deleting preferences out of the library forces your Mac to recreate them brand new, thus avoiding any bugs or improper algorithms that could have interfered with your Bluetooth headphones setup. If that didn’t work, you can also try relaunching the audio process:

Launch Activity Monitor from the Applications folder

In the CPU tab, find the process called coreaudiod

Quit the process and close Activity Monitor

The above would force not only the preferences for your audio to reset but also the audio process for your whole Mac to relaunch.

No audio from a paired and connected Bluetooth headset

Occasionally, when you succeeded in connecting Bluetooth headphones to Mac, you might hear no sound going through. There are a few things you can do to solve this.

Ensure that your headphones are the selected audio output for your Mac:

Go System Preferences > Sound

In the Output tab, find your headphones in the list and double-click to make them active

If that didn’t change anything:

Reset your headphones as per the directions above

Go System Preferences > Bluetooth

Right-click on your Bluetooth headphones, choose Remove, and confirm

Now you need to connect Bluetooth headphones to Mac all over again, and the problem should disappear.

Can’t connect two Bluetooth headphones Mac recognizes

The beauty of Mac’s Bluetooth menu is that it lets you add any number of Bluetooth-enabled devices, from keyboards to headphones. Sometimes, however, it might malfunction and not allow you to add two Bluetooth headphones at the same time.

To fix this issue, essentially repeat the steps from the previous section:

Reset each pair of headphones

Remove them from Mac’s Bluetooth menu

Reconnect your headphones once more

If, however, you’re looking for how to use multiple audio outputs, such as headphones, at the same time — here some magic tricks are required.

How to use multiple audio outputs simultaneously

Most Mac users believe that they can only play their audio output through one device at a time, be it internal speakers, Bluetooth headphones, or some other amplifier. But in reality it’s possible to play audio on multiple devices at the same time through a handy built-in utility called Audio MIDI Setup. Here’s what you need to do:

Launch Audio MIDI Setup through Applications

Click the plus icon at the bottom left and choose Create Multi-Output Device

In the new option that appears, check all the Bluetooth devices you need to play simultaneously

Navigate to the Sound menu in System Preferences and choose the Multi-Output Device in the Output tab. Now all sounds will play through both devices at the same time.

Playing audio through multiple devices is a nifty trick for when you need more sound power for your party or when trying to create a true surround sound for a movie screening.

Use master audio software for all needs

Most of the time, audio on Mac is not an issue. What’s frustrating is the way current settings are sprinkled all over macOS. Lots of fixes described here might seem confusing and unintuitive at first sight. You might wish there was an app that would make it easy to control all your audio needs from a single place. And there is.

Meet ToothFairy — the most simple and magical Bluetooth device assistant for Mac. In a true one-click fashion, ToothFairy allows you to set up any number of Bluetooth-enabled devices, configure hotkeys, and switch easily between them.

Similarly, it’s just as easy to assign custom icons to all your frequently used devices and get them displayed in the menu bar, so you instantly know which devices are connected, what’s their battery life, and can quickly turn them on and off with one click.

Additionally, ToothFairy offers a unique option of improving the sound quality of your Bluetooth headphones by funnelling the sound through a higher level audio codec.

In the end, it seems like Bluetooth headphones are here to stay. So finding a master program to control them with ease is going to save your hours of time in the long run. Use the tips above to configure your Bluetooth headphones, easily connect AirPods to MacBook, and take advantage of ToothFairy to just the way you want and take advantage of ToothFairy to tell you what exactly is going on with all your Bluetooth devices.

Best of all, ToothFairy is available for a free trial through Setapp, a platform of over 100 useful utilities and apps for people who love finding the best shortcuts for using their Macs. Now enjoy the sound!